ALL MINUTES before May 2026 were printed in the North Laine Runner
NLCA trustees meeting at The Foyer, Pelham Street, on Thursday, July 2, 2026, at 6pm
Secretary’s report: Mailchimp messages have gone out about the Charity and Community Day and the 50th anniversary exhibition. Pelham Square picnic Mailchimp to go out over the weekend.
Treasurer’s report: Still a healthy balance with a Colourfast invoice payment expected shortly. New categories of the Zettle payment app have been added in readiness for people being able to pay for books and merchandise on their own moboile phones.
Planning:
Treasurer Maria Barney has been in contact with Danny Tapper about the 47 Trafalgar Street premises licence. She will share information via email.
There was a discussion on a vape booth (temporary but apparently there for the next nine weeks) that has appeared on New Road opposite the Theatre Royal. Chris Hayes will write to Councillors Ellen McLeay and Sue Shanks to complain on behalf of the NLCA and try to find out who approved this.
The Pond – amended application to awning approved.
66 North Road – application for change of use from tattoo parlour to estate agent. No physical changes except signage.
Licensing: no new licensing applications save for temporary notices for World Cup events
Anti-tagging: The anti tagging WhatsApp group is becoming more active and there are several before and after pictures that have been posted online and in the Runner.
North Laine Runner: Oakley estate agents will discontinue their back page advert from December so a new advertiser there needs to be found. Kim Curran and Catherine Clement are contacting Eightfold estate agents and also Charters to see if they would like to advertise. NLCA's bank balance will run down quickly if advertising income does not cover printing costs.
Social: Charity and Community Day will be on July 4; the picnic in Pelham Square is on July 12 – NLCA will provide finger food and drink with a £150 budget celebrating NLCA's 50th anniversary; the annual NLCA tea party in Pavilion Gardens is on September 4, and the NLCA comedy night is at Komedia on September 28..
NLCA 50th anniversary: The exhibition will be reprised at the Jubilee Library from July 6-13. It will also be at the MET College for a month from September 14. It was agreed efforts should be made to set up the PayPal POS app rather than relying solely on cash for purchases.
Meeting on NLCA's future: The first half of North Laine resident Matt Baker’s ideas/proposal were in the last Runner and the second part will be in this edition. The meeting is booked for September 21 at Komedia.
Further items: A MailChimp message will be sent out before the next members’ meeting to say that Emma Humphreys' labyrinth proposal for Jubilee Square will be included at the next full community meeting, with illustrations.
NLCA community meeting at The Foyer, Pelham Street, on Tuesday, July 16, 2026, at 7.30pm
Treasurer's report: Maria Barney thanked Catherine Clement for her help with invoicing for Runner adverts, amounting to £2,000 which covers all yearly renewals up to the August-September issue. A new advertiser is being sought for the prime spot of back page of the magazine and if anyone knows of a business or organisation who would like this, contact Catherine at advertising@northlaine.info
Thanks to Sue Delafons for using the Zettle payment app at the NLCA 50th exhibition at the Jubilee Library and other events, allowing us to take card payments
Licensing: The Pond is in the process of sorting out the premises licence after the death of the owner.
Voya (corner of Bread Street and North Road) still appear to be offering party bookings despite saying they would take more care after a previous noise and disturbance incident. Residents at Belvourne Court report continued problems and the situation will need to be monitored.
North Laine Runner: Ian Habben, owner of The Point will no longer advertise in the Runner as the business is closing, however CitySprint is a new advertiser.
Social report: The NLCA stall at the Charity and Community Day on July 4 made £210 from the tombola and merchandise sales. Free food and drink was provided for guests at the Pelham Square picnic on July 12, which was well attended with several new faces.
The NLCA tea party organised by David Sewell is in the afternoon on Sunday, September 6, in the Pavilion Gardens. NLCA's comedy night on September 28 now has great acts booked. Tickets, costing £10, are going live on the Komedia website, or they can be bought at the Komedia box office – more details in the next edition of the Runner. Any raffle prize donations would be much appreciated.
Planning: An amended application has been approved for the Hippodrome in Middle Street with “restoration, renovation, part-demolition works and extensions... to create a new mixed use development including multi-format performance space and apart-hotel”.
42 Tidy Street: – An appeal against refusal to grant change of use to short-term letting has been dismissed with notes by the council's planning committee that “The main issues are the effect of the appeal scheme on the supply of housing, and its harmful effect on the living conditions of neighbouring occupiers, with particular reference to noise and disturbance.”
The applicant argued the council had accepted the use by allowing it to be registered for commercial rates, however the insprctor said that “whilst it is obviously good practice for council departments to liaise with one another and for possible breaches of planning control to be investigated at the earliest possible opportunity; to my mind, the failure to do so should not automatically result in an acceptance that policy DM2(f) has been met.”
Sovereign House – an application has been made to vary the conditions and to extend the sports hall towards Alfred Davey House (which seemed to similar to the original application which was refused.)
Tower Point - Roof garden with glass curtain wall, bar and sauna has been approved (with conditions requested by NLCA tthat hours are limited to 11pm, there is a noise management plan and use must be ancillary to shared office workspace and not an independent commercial unit.
Theatre Royal – listed building application to replace current single glazed windows with timber double glazed windows using the same framing.
66 North Road – application for change of use from tattoo parlour to estate agents. No physical changes save for new signage.
The Pond – amended application for new awning approved – previous framework was objected to by Heritage due to listed buildings across the road.
Any other business:
i) The 50th anniversary exhibition at the Jubilee Library went well. Thanks to Peter Wingate-Saul for putting up/taking it down. The library agreed to leave the window display up free of charge for a further week. The exhibition will then be at Brighton MET College from September 14.
ii) Emma Humphreys outlined a proposal for a labyrinth installation at Jubilee Square. There was discussion about how the installation could be funded, with ideas of contacting Sport England and NHS for an exercise grant, Art Funding, Brighton Council for Community Infrastructure Levy or S106 funds, and possible business sponsorship.
A vote showed all were in favour of the proposal and that NLCA would be the applican,with Emma taking this forward, contacting the company that owns Jubilee Square and also Brighton Fringe to check they would be happy to support the proposal.
iii) Georgia Mae Bishop and Charlotte Marlow reported on their 'let's make an opera' project using North Laine stories. There was an article in the last Runner and a MailChimp message has also been sent out.